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@geiten tant getest @ffice INCREASE S. HILL, oF BoSToN, AND vANDREW BUENHAM, or CHELSEA, MASSAoHUSETTs.

Letters .Patent No. 61,336, dated January 22, 1867.

@Le tlgtmlt referat tu it these gleitet 'ltteut :uit making pitt tf tige stmt.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONGERN:

Be it known that we, INCREASE S. HILL, of Boston, and ANDREW BURNHAM, of Chelsea, both in the county of Suffolk, and lStatt; of Massachusetts, have invented an improved instantaneous, simultaneous Disengaging Apparatus for Boats; and we do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection ivith the drawings which accompany and'forrn part of this specication, is a description of our invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practise it.

This invention relates/to the means herein described for instantly and simultaneously disengaging both ends of'a boat from its sustaining tackle, so as to cause it to fall squarely upon the water.

. It is well known that inthe hurry of emergencies, or in stress of weather, boats are often` detached from their tackles at one end before they are at the other; and if, undzer such circumstances, they have far totfall, or

if a detached end is considerably loaded,'fthe'fi^rst detached end goes under water and the boat is swamped, frequently With the most disastrous results. v

` Many simultaneous disengaging devices for the above purpose have been invented, which, under certain circumstances, may be made to operate as designed; but, so far as we know, none of them are of such construction l as will work. perfectly under all conditions of wea her, position of the boat, and position and mental condition l of the operator. Especially are those apparatuses deficient in certainty'ot` equal and simultaneous action l at each end of a boat, which depend upon an equal strain being brought on both ends of a rope or chain, on

l which the operator pulls or lifts at its bight, jas it is almost impossible thus for him .not to exert more strain on l one end of the ropeor chain than on the other end, especially under the circumstances under which it becomes practically necessary to bring the disengaging apparatus into action.

l A.Our invention consists primarily in the combination with links, Vattached to the fore andaft tackles, of sockets, made fast to the stem and stern of the boat and adapted to receive said links, locking and unlocking rods passing through Said sockets and links, and lever connections, by which said rods are operated; secondly,

in the arrangement of said devices at the upper partof the boat, out of the way of collections of snow and ice,

along under and partly protected by the gunwale; thirdly, in the combination with the links, sockets, rods, and lever arrangement, of right and left-hand screw-couplings, by which the rods may be easily and accurately adjusted with reference to the links and sockets. Of the drawings Figure 1 represents a boat hanging on her. tackles, the nearest side of the boat being shown as broken away in'order 'to expose in elevation the disengaging mechanism, rsecured to the other side of the boat under its gun- `Wale. In this figure the red lines show the position which the parts are made to assume in order to release the links from the rods, and the black lines show the parts in the position necessary for thrusting the ends of the rods into thelinks. l Figure 2 shows, in sectional plan, the stem and stern ends of a boat. At one end the rod is represented thrust into the socket into position to confine its link thereon, though for the purpose of illustration the' link is ,f left outY from said socket; at the other end of the boat the rod is shown as Withdrawn from the socket, as'xvhcn the links are disengaged.

The sockets are marked a a, and are rmly secured to the stem and stern of the boat, being made preferably, as shown, so that their sides and the sides of the mortise through each shall be substantially at right angles to those portions of therods la b which enter said sockets, and pass across the mortises therein. 'The links, which are made fast to the tackles, are marked c c, and `are preferably made with elongated slots, as shown in the t detail, Figure 3. The rods b b are sustained and guided in eye-bolts, cl cl, made fast in the ribs ofA the boat, l preferably above the thwarts and under the gunwale, theends of said rods being pivoted near. the centre of the l boats length to the two short arms c c of leve'rf, which lever is pivoted by bolt g to the side of the boat. Each. i of the rods b b is made in two pieces, coupled together 5where convenient by right and left-hand screw-couplings,

7L z., by means of which either of said rods 11 b can-be accurately adjusted as to length, sp that they will both release their links at the same instant. 'Ihe links are released from the rods, which are drawn'back by raising lever f, and when the boat is thus dropped clear of her tackles, the lever y"v may then be depressed so as to be ou#l of' the way. Thelever f should be looked or confined in position by means of a pin placed over it, or by other suitable means, to prevent accidental raising of the lever while the boat is hanging from its davits or cranes.

We do not broadly claimas our invention rods" running fore and'aft in q, boat to `the points of suspension at the stem' and stern, zuid connected with a. vlever in the centre, to bring thedisengegng apparatus under contro'l of one person. l

1. The arrnngement of curved disengaging rods in guides along by tbe gunwale of o boat, substantially os herein described, when the same are connected with a pivotedvlever', through the operation of which the disengagng rods are simultaneously retracted, liberating the links by which the boutv is suspended.

2. A. groduating coupling in the disengaging rods, by means ofwhich the engths thereof may be so adjusted as to secure smultzineons disengagement of the suspending links, :1s-and for the purpose described;`

INCREASE S. HILL, ANDREW BURNHAM.

Witnesses:`

F. GULD, n M. W. FROTHINGHAM. 

